Installation and Upgrade Download Official Windows 11 ISO file from Microsoft

Banjoman301 · Aug 1, 2026

garlin said:
7-Zip 25.01

Current version is 26.02

Release notes are sparse, but found a reference online that 26.02 "Fixed parsing errors and memory-safety issues in WIM images and UDF disc files."

garlin · Aug 1, 2026

Not fixed in 7-Zip 26.02.

Code:

D:\sources>c:7z.exe l install.swm

7-Zip 26.02 (x64) : Copyright (c) 1999-2026 Igor Pavlov : 2026-06-25

Scanning the drive for archives:
1 file, 3957088176 bytes (3774 MiB)

Listing archive: install.swm

ERROR: install.swm : install.swm
Open ERROR: Cannot open the file as [wim] archive

WARNINGS:
There are data after the end of archive

Errors: 1

SIW2 · Aug 1, 2026

looks like it gets confused because of the expected compression... It can open an install.esd but not an install.swm that was created by splitting the install.esd.

what happens if you rename install.swm to install.esd, rename install2.swm to install2.esd etc.

Altob16916 · Aug 1, 2026

update laptop

garlin · Aug 1, 2026

Let's convert MCT's SWM back to a normal WIM...

Code:

DISM /export-image /sourceimagefile:D:\sources\install.swm /swmfile:D:\sources\install*.swm /sourceindex:1 /destinationimagefile:install.wim

1. wimlib can't read the WIM
2. 7z.exe can extract wlanapi.dll

You don't mind creating a 5.28 GB temp file (install.wim) just for this?!

To cap our headache:

When MCT saves to a local ISO file, files from the ESD image can be extracted without the expense of mounting the ESD image. But we cannot re-use the same ISO file (within MCT) to create an USB drive. You must use Rufus or other means.
When MCT saves to a local USB, files from the SWM image cannot be extracted. You can't mount a set of SWM files, so they must be converted back to WIM or ESD first. This requires having quite a bit of free disk space.
If you use DISM to convert the original ESD file (from save to ISO) as SWM, this works. But MCT's conversion process changes the format to break 3rd-party tools. Why would MS decide to have MCT perform the conversion differently from DISM??

Banjoman301 · Aug 1, 2026

garlin said:

Not fixed in 7-Zip 26.02.

Code:

D:\sources>c:7z.exe l install.swm

7-Zip 26.02 (x64) : Copyright (c) 1999-2026 Igor Pavlov : 2026-06-25

Scanning the drive for archives:
1 file, 3957088176 bytes (3774 MiB)

Listing archive: install.swm

ERROR: install.swm : install.swm
Open ERROR: Cannot open the file as [wim] archive

WARNINGS:
There are data after the end of archive

Errors: 1

Yeah...

I was able to get the two DLLs in AppData\Local\Temp this way, without mounting anything...

cd C:\Program Files\7-Zip

Dism /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:E:\sources\install.swm /SWMFile:E:\sources\install*.swm /SourceIndex:1 /DestinationImageFile:C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Local\Temp\NewInstall.wim

Then -

7z x "C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Local\Temp\NewInstall.wim" "Windows\System32\wlanapi.dll" "Windows\System32\mobilenetworking.dll" -o"C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Local\Temp"

Note: This extraction approach created Windows\System32 folders in AppData\Local\Temp

I'm sure you'll come up with a cleaner way.

Banjoman301 · Aug 1, 2026

I also appened the extended path to the DLLs in the script add and remove lines...

add $TEMP_DIR\Windows\System32\wlanapi.dll /Windows/System32/wlanapi.dll
add $TEMP_DIR\Windows\System32\mobilenetworking.dll /Windows/System32/mobilenetworking.dll

Remove-Item "$TEMP_DIR\\Windows\System32\wlanapi.dll","$TEMP_DIR\\Windows\System32\mobilenetworking.dll"

Booted from the MCT USB, and accessed the Repair function with no issues.

fg2001gf11F · Aug 1, 2026

garlin said:
Let's convert MCT's SWM back to a normal WIM...

Code:

DISM /export-image /sourceimagefile:D:\sources\install.swm /swmfile:D:\sources\install*.swm /sourceindex:1 /destinationimagefile:install.wim

1. wimlib can't read the WIM
2. 7z.exe can extract wlanapi.dll

You don't mind creating a 5.28 GB temp file (install.wim) just for this?!

To cap our headache:

When MCT saves to a local ISO file, files from the ESD image can be extracted without the expense of mounting the ESD image. But we cannot re-use the same ISO file (within MCT) to create an USB drive. You must use Rufus or other means.

When MCT saves to a local USB, files from the SWM image cannot be extracted. You can't mount a set of SWM files, so they must be converted back to WIM or ESD first. This requires having quite a bit of free disk space.

If you use DISM to convert the original ESD file (from save to ISO) as SWM, this works. But MCT's conversion process changes the format to break 3rd-party tools. Why would MS decide to have MCT perform the conversion differently from DISM??

I tried this:
I converted the original install.esd created in the MCT ISO into an install.wim and then split it into .swm files that can be opened by 7-zip.
Here is a sample extracting Windows11 Pro edition.
dism /export-image /SourceImageFile:"E:\Temp\install.esd" /SourceIndex:6 /DestinationImageFile:"E:\Temp\install.wim" /Compress:fast /CheckIntegrity (Standard wim compression)

Dism /Split-Image /ImageFile:E:\Temp\install.wim /SWMFile:E:\Temp\install.swm /FileSize:3800

SIW2 · Aug 1, 2026

You might only need to do the extraction once. When you have those two dll files they will probabaly work in later versions of boot.wim

When I was fiddling with my simple pe builds ( those have the menu) using either a matching or earlier version of explorerframe.dll works . So probably also applies to those two dll files

I like explorerframe in there for copy to and move to.

Did a little batch file to copy winre.wim from wherever it is on the disk ( or browse to any other bootable wim files such as ms boot.wim ) and shove a few things into it .

Or you might be able to copy the two dll from your running %windir%\system32 . That is how I get the exploreframe.dll mentioned above.

some clips as an example

Code:

    IF %HOSTBUILD% LEQ %WIMBUILD% (

      COPY /Y "%windir%\system32\ExplorerFrame.dll" "%TP%\BIN\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32"

      GOTO :PROCESSWIM

      )


     IF %HOSTBUILD% GTR %WIMBUILD% (

      IF EXIST "%WINDIR%\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-explorerframe_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.26100.7920_none_5e0ae50023fe51ca\ExplorerFrame.dll" (

      COPY /Y "%WINDIR%\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-explorerframe_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.26100.7920_none_5e0ae50023fe51ca\ExplorerFrame.dll" "%TP%\BIN\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32"

      GOTO :PROCESSWIM

      )

     )


   :PROCESSWIM


    if exist "%tp%\bin\windows" (

    %wimlib% update "%wimpath%" %indexboot% --command="add '%tp%/bin/Windows' '/Windows'"

     )

.

The code tag thing only offers to include the first of the lines that have been highlighted, so I paste it all in again.

garlin · Aug 1, 2026

Finally!! I wasted an hour, before realizing the script can got tripped up on race conditions. After you convert the SWM to a WIM file, sometimes 7z.exe cannot correctly read the WIM immediately afterwards.

You have to give it a slight pause, and then the writes get flushed (or something).

Code:

PS C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads> .\Repair_My_BootWIM.ps1 D:
Making file updates to D:\sources\boot.wim
Converting from D:\sources SWM to temporary WIM
Please be patient...
Adding files to boot.wim
Performing clean-up on boot WIM.

PS C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads> .\Repair_My_BootWIM.ps1 D:
D:\sources\boot.wim is already updated.

Banjoman301 · Aug 1, 2026

wabbit said:
Splitting the install.esd is a real PITA. If I need a FAT32 boot usb, I'll just make a usb stick with a fat32 boot partition and an NTFS partition for the install.esd. I find that much easier than splitting install.esd.

Agree...

I don't think much is gained disk space wise.

Some numbers from the recent MCT ISO...

ESD - 5.62 GB

WIM - 6.92 GB (converted from ESD).

SWM and SWM2 - 3.68 GB and 1.91 GB respectively = 5.59 GB total

SWMs combined are .03 GB smaller than ESD, and 1.33 GB smaller than WIM

Banjoman301 · Aug 1, 2026

garlin said:
Finally!!

Works

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26200.8875]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Jim>cd C:\Users\Jim\Downloads

C:\Users\Jim\Downloads>powershell -ep bypass -f C:\Users\Jim\Downloads\Repair_My_BootWIM.ps1 E:
Making file updates to E:\sources\boot.wim
Converting from E:\sources SWM to temporary WIM
Please be patient...
Adding files to boot.wim
Performing clean-up on boot WIM.

C:\Users\Jim\Downloads>

fg2001gf11F · Aug 1, 2026

Banjoman301 said:
Agree...

I don't think much is gained disk space wise.

Some numbers from the recent MCT ISO...

ESD - 5.62 GB

WIM - 6.92 GB (converted from ESD).

SWM and SWM2 - 3.68 GB and 1.91 GB respectively = 5.59 GB total

SWMs combined are .03 GB smaller than ESD, and 1.33 GB smaller than WIM

Not a matter of saving space, they need to keep the file sizes below 4GiB which is the limit for a FAT32 formatted device.
MCT should prepare an ISO that can be used directly to create the FAT32 USB media.
It is silly that they let the users deal with that annoying problem. The original idea of the .esd compression was to limit the size of the install.esd to stay below the 4GiB size limit of FAT32, but that is no longer the case, on most of Windows 11 builds the install.esd is still bigger than 4GiB so it is not good for a FAT32 USB Drive.

That is why users rely on Rufus or other methods to make an UEFI bootable installation media.

garlin · Aug 1, 2026

"For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail."

MCT and me...

Banjoman301 · Aug 1, 2026

fg2001gf11F said:
Not a matter of saving space, they need to keep the file sizes below 4GiB which is the limit for a FAT32 formatted device.
MCT should prepare an ISO that can be used drirectly to create the FAT32 USB media.
It is silly that they let the users deal with that annoying problem. The original idea of the .esd compression was to limit the size of the install.esd to stay below the 4GiB size limit of FAT32, but that is no longer the case, on most of Windows 11 builds the install.esd is still bigger than 4GiB so it is not good for a FAT32 USB Drive.
That is why users rely on Rufus or other methods to make an UEFI bootable installation media.

I get that.

One of the reasons I said I agree with @wabbit

FAT32 boot partition, and NTFS for the install file.

I mean we could go on for hours about how MS should do this or that...

When it doesn't happen, modders find a way.

fg2001gf11F · Aug 1, 2026

Banjoman301 said:
I get that.

One of the reasons I said I agree with @wabbit

FAT32 boot partition, and NTFS for the install file.

I mean we could go on for hours about how MS should do this or that...

When it doesn't happen, modders find a way.

The users should force Microsoft to do things properly rather than rely on workarounds.

fg2001gf11F · Aug 1, 2026

garlin said:
"For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail."

MCT and me...

MCT just sucks. Typical Microsoft!

wabbit · Aug 2, 2026

Banjoman301 said:
I get that.

One of the reasons I said I agree with @wabbit

FAT32 boot partition, and NTFS for the install file.

I mean we could go on for hours about how MS should do this or that...

When it doesn't happen, modders find a way.

One work around I use is I'll download the latest iso using the MCT. Then I'll make a bootable usb using Rufus with some of the customizations. Next, I'll run the script "Repair_My_Boot.WIM ps1 D:", where D is the drive letter of the usb, not the Rufus_Boot partition. Then, I'll test boot the Rufus usb to see if I can get to "Repair my PC,: If successful, I'll make an iso from the Rufus usb's main partition, not the Rufus_boot one. I did create a usb stick from the Rufus iso with a fat32 boot partition and an NTFS partition. That was successful.

Hoping MS can fix this issue by the next Patch Tuesday.

Brink · Wednesday at 1:17 PM

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